I think the steam has gone out of Vance on this made up story. Somebody reminded him he is the Senator from Ohio and it isn’t a good look to trash your own constituents. He is also on bad ground in this case because the Haitians are here legally and are for the most part working in plants that needed workers and helping revitalize a small city.
Donald Trump on the other hand might think that pushing the story is good for the campaign. It has turned into an albatross around his neck. Vance’s admission that it was a false meme and the reporters actually reporting the facts has turned the story into an embarrassment for Ohio Republicans who are trying keep local Republcan donors happy. Those donors are just seeing the first glimpses of new prosperty in Springfield and the last thing Ohio Republican leaders want is for Trump to blunder through town with a campaign event that will mostly draw neo-nazis from out of the area.
As Josh Marshall said in his post “the trajectory of the race looks friendly to Harris and she is already at least a bit ahead.” Every day this moves on helps Harris consolidate her lead. He is behind and he needs to catch up. This story isn’t helping Trump. Trump needs to get to work if he thinks he has a chance.
If you’d ever spent any time around MAGA types, you’d understand that they think this stuff is funny. “Ethnic humor”. They think the memes are funny and they think the “woke” reaction to them is funny. My dad thought the whole Kenyan Muslim Marxist thing was hilarious, all the more so because of my mother’s and my sister’s reactions. Racist? “I’m not a racists”, He’d say with a smile. He couldn’t figure out why I stopped talking to him.
Yanking our chains is part of the point. Trolling is all these losers have to fill their sad pathetic lives. My advice, for what it’s worth, is to stop trying to figure them out. Stop trying to reason with them. Call them what they are. Weird, sad, little people. Laugh and point at them. Then vote them out
How might all of this be affecting Sherrod Brown’s chances? I can only imagine that it helps Brown. Has he weighed in? He must have, but I find nothing on a (admittedly quick) google.
Sen. Brown has weighed in forcefully. I hope everyone understands this whole Springfield thing is a move to hurt his campaign and rile up the red meatheads.If folks get hurt, oh well, they don’t care at all. Trump and Vance are both sociopaths and keep in mind when Trmp’s health fails (soon) President Vance will be large and in charge. No pressure on GOTV measures!
Again, Republicans willing to let Trump run all over their dignity for the sake of what? He keeps proving he doesn’t care about them or the chaos he creates while trying to get what he wants. Trump always puts his wants before everybody else’s needs- they keep forgetting that they don’t matter to him.
As a native Californian, I remember when CA was a red state. That changed with the passage of anti-immigrant Prop 209 and Prop 187. Ever since then, CA Reps have paid a heavy price. I wonder if this will be turning point for Ohio too?
Might is doing some heavy lifting here. There isn’t any meaningful polling in Ohio and DJT/JDV have stepped on their dicks with golf spikes with this Springfield mess. There is a corner on my regular dog-walk route that is normally covered with political signs by this time, and the majority are Republican. As of this morning, there are still none to be seen. (I live in a pretty Republican area–back when the Ohio Legislature was completely unrestricted in its ability to gerrymander we were swept into Wenstrup’s district [formerly Mean Jean Schmidt’s seat] to keep it safely Republican. The pre-2020 map was an artwork of packing and cracking.)
On my route to my brass band’s rehearsals there are a couple of stretches that will normally have many yards with GQP indicators like campaign yard signs, thin blue line flags, etc. All the thin blue line flags are gone. There was Trump/Vance campaign flag flying below the national flag at one house. Both flags are gone now–it’s a bare pole for the moment.
Most significantly, I’m seeing more “Republicans for Harris” signs going up.
I’m not deluding myself: the wanna-be fascists are going to win in Ohio. But I’m not at all sure it’s going to be even as large a spread as in prior elections (Trump was +8 in both 2016 and 2020).
I’ve signed up to canvass for Issue 1 (our real anti-gerrymandering amendment) on Sunday. I’ll think I’ll have a much better feel for how folks feel about things on Sunday afternoon. Especially at home with Republicans for Harris signs, I’m going to emphasize that voting for Harris and Issue 1 are necessary good things, but they aren’t sufficient. Adding a vote for Sherrod Brown might be sufficient, but I really think voting blue up and down the ballot is what’s needed at this point.
Elections aren’t Valentine’s Day: it’s not about falling in love or even falling in like with a candidate. It’s about asking yourself, “Which candidate has the best collection of policies for us?” If someone wants to define “us” very narrowly, that’s their privilege. I define “us” much more broadly. What’s more, I want to have the opportunity to define “us” for myself again in 2028 and 2032.
He’s going to vote for Trump because Trump has the R label after his name. He’s going to go gently on Trump and Vance because they have the proper label following their names.
Here’s the ultimate irony: Bernie Moreno (Sherrod Brown’s opponent in the 2024 Senate race) defied a judge’s orders to preserve payroll records in connection with a FLSA lawsuit. Moreno destroyed the records. De Whine is a former prosecutor and former AG. He’s backing Moreno.
Apparently to De Whine, defying the Courts is just fine as long as you have the correct label after your name.
De Whine’s actions show that he has a single guiding principle: Partei uber alles.
As I’ve said previously, Mikey Johnson could fuck up organizing a funeral procession consisting solely of the hearse. Mikey Johnson could not lead a troop of Cub Scouts out of a shelter belt of trees.
TPM should offer a PhD in continuing education. Come for the intelligent reporting and sage political commentary, stay for the puns, grammar lessons, wordsmithing and translation of social media acronyms (some of which you wish you hadn’t heard). Luv it.
union busters.